Former Galatasaray player Tugay was welcomed as a long lost son by
the home fans who presented him with two bouquets of flowers
before kick-off - a passionate crowd who had paid anything between
£2 and £100 for admission.
Dick Advocaat played the same 11 who had performed so heroically
in Monaco last week although it was clear from the start that Tugay
was playing in front of the back four rather than as sweeper. Indeed
he quickly picked up Belezoglu Emre in a man-marking role.
The kick off had been delayed whole tons of streamers were cleared
from the pitch and incredibly the match was halted after 40 seconds
for the same reason.
Rangers were given no opportunity to settle as the Turks forced play
in the early stages with former Rangers target Mario Jardel miskicking
when presented with a good opportunity form a long pass by
Gheorghe Popescu. Sas Hasan came close with a low 20 yard drive
in 13 minutes as Rangers were put under intense pressure with Atyer
Fatih causing lots of problems wide on the right but Barry Ferguson
was presented with a golden opportunity from an inswinging Giovanni
Van Bronckhorst corner in 25 minutes only to head wide at the back
post.
Nevertheless the balance of play had all been with the home side
although Rangers had mainly restricted them to long-range efforts but
two minutes before half-time Lorenzo Amoruso almost cost Rangers
dear when he sliced a cross from Hakan Unsal towards goal only for
Stefan Klos to bend backwards and scoop the ball out from under the
bar with Jardel just failing to convert the rebound.
The tense atmosphere had scarcely quietened throughout the first half
with the entire Galatasaray support singing the club anthem - "cim bom
bom" in honour of the Swiss students who founded their club.
Galatasaray started the second half on the offensive with Emre clean
through in the opening seconds only to be denied by Klos but the
opening goal was delayed until the 51 minute when Claudio Reyna
was caught ball-watching and Elgun's cross was volleyed by Akin
Bulent.
A crescendo of noise exploded around the stadium and within six
minutes Hakan Unsal spotted Klos off his line to create a goal from
nothing - a beautiful left footed chip shot over Klos into the left hand
top corner of the goal.
Rangers were under severe pressure and things went from bad to
worse in 62 minutes when Amoruso was yellow carded for a foul on
Emre thus suspending the Ibrox captain from the return fixture.
The leaden skies grew even darker in 70 minutes when a Jardel
left-foot volley from a Daval Unit cross was perfectly placed to beat
Klos.
Galatasaray we threatening to swamp Rangers but within minutes
Andrei Kanchelskis headed home an Arthur Numan cross and
suddenly a goal which changed the entire complexion of the game had
silenced the fans from Hell.
Rangers retained possession and pushed the home side back in the
closing 20 minutes, a scramble in front of Taffarel almost reducing the
deficit even further in 84 minutes but both Kanchelskis and Dodds
failed to force the ball home. Taffarel again came to Galatasaray's
rescue when he twice saved from Van Bronckhorst before turning
wide a Dodds header from a Numan cross.
Van Bronckhorst was the heart of every move and in injury time he
first came close with his curling 18 yard effort hit the post before he
did at least find the net with a stunning 25 yard free kick.
Time had however run out on Rangers but at least they do retain the
leadership of the group.
Rangers manager Dick Advocaat expressed his disappointment with
the performance admitting that Galatasaray had played the better
football and had deserved to win. Poor defending and lack of
concentration had cost Rangers the goals and he emphasised his
frustration by underlining that his team only started to play when three
goals down.
However the results in this group have proved that every team can
win.
GALATASARAY - Taffarel, K. Bulent, Popescu, B. Emre, Jardel,
Hasan, Akyel, Davala, A. Bulent, Hakan, Penbe. SUBS NOT USED
- Inan, Ahmet, Aykut, Faruk, A. Emre, Marcio.
RANGERS - Klos, Reyna, Konterman, Tugay, Amoruso, van
Bronckhorst, Ferguson, Numan, Johnston, de Boer, Mols. SUBS
NOT USED - Brown, Ricksen, Kanchelskis, Albertz, Dodds,
McCann, Vidmar.
